Central Campus takes shape

Duke previews development plans

Duke University revealed plans for the first development phase of Central Campus, an expanse between the Gothic-style West Campus and Georgian-style East Campus that officials hope to transform into a mix of new student housing, academic buildings and campus-based retail.

At a community meeting Tuesday night, Provost Peter Lange presented tentative footprints for 14 buildings, or nearly 800,000 square feet, that the university hopes to build by 2008 along Anderson Street.

A master plan has not been developed yet. But administrators hope to get started this summer on work projected to cost at least $240 million.

For the first phase of development of the 40-year project, Duke plans to build apartment-style housing for nearly 1,200 students. Because some of the existing Central Campus housing will be demolished to make room for the new construction, university officials expect a net increase of only 500 more beds on campus than now.

"This is not to be a bedroom community," Lange said.

Duke plans to add campus eateries, gyms and fitness facilities. Administrators plan to move the John Hope Franklin Center off Erwin Road to Central Campus. By putting academic departments with similar missions together, officials hope to create an arts community.

Plans to relocate the student bookstore and T-shirt shops to Central Campus caused grave concerns among Durham merchants and residents from near-campus neighborhoods.

Too much commercial development at Duke, they complained, could further isolate the walled-in campus from the city and give students few reasons to go to nearby restaurants or stores that count on their business.

They also worry that campus shops easily accessible to the greater city might rob business from Ninth Street, a commercial district where many homegrown businesses are located.

Tom Miller, a state worker who grew up in Durham, said Ninth Street was able to transform itself and survive the exodus of the tobacco and textile industries with the help of three anchor tenants -- Ninth Street Bakery, Wellspring grocery (now Whole Foods) and the Regulator Bookshop and Cafe.

"When I was a kid growing up in Durham, East Durham and West Durham were the same," Miller said.

But West Durham, with Duke University in its midst and Ninth Street businesses catering to students and workers there, has become more prosperous than the eastern side of the city.

"Ninth Street made a transition, and Driver Street did not," said Miller, a resident of the Watts-Hillandale neighborhood near Duke.

For at least three years, Durham merchants and residents have tried to get Duke administrators to develop plans that would not be detrimental to nearby businesses.

Lange told people at the community meeting Tuesday that administrators were aware of their concerns.

"There's a delicate balance that's going to have to be struck," Lange said. "We are creating a campus that is going to have greater access to the community."

Neighborhood representatives asked whether Duke planned to get Borders or Barnes & Noble to manage the campus bookstore. Lange would not rule out the possibility, but he said no decisions had been made.

Some who attended the meeting hoped for more specifics than Duke administrators provided.

"This was a vast improvement over the last community meeting," said John Schelp, a neighborhood representative who has been following the planning process. "But Duke's Central Campus plan is a collage of blank space and vague footprints. We appreciate that they're meeting, but after three years of asking, we expect more information than the vague answers we're getting."